Nickel catalysts are known to a person skilled in the art e.g. under the name Raney nickel. This is a nickel-aluminium alloy which is converted to the activated Raney nickel by dissolving much of the aluminium with caustic soda solution. Due to the resulting porous structure and therefore large BET surface area, Raney nickel has a high catalytic activity, in particular during hydrogenation reactions. Commercially available Raney nickel has an average nickel surface area of up to 100 m2/g. However, a disadvantage when using Raney nickel is that, because of its large BET surface area and reactivity, it can decompose spontaneously and explosively in air. The use of Raney nickel is therefore problematic in particular when used on an industrial scale.
Instead of Raney nickel as catalyst, it is also possible to use nickel oxide, which can be converted into an active nickel catalyst by reduction, as precursor. However, nickel oxide which is produced according to methods known in the state of the art has too small a BET surface area, with the result that the catalytic activity of the nickel which is obtained from the nickel oxide by reduction is frequently inadequate for chemical conversions.